updated 09:45 am EST, Fri March 9, 2012

Google Chrome gets immediate security patch

Google sent word that it had already patched the Chrome exploit demonstrated in CanSecWest's Pwn2Own side contest, Pwnium. Linux, Mac, and Windows versions, along with the Chrome Frame plugin for Internet Explorer, should all be secure today. It's now known to have involved universal cross-site scripting and "bad history navigation," although wider details wouldn't be published until most users of Chrome and other WebKit-using browsers like Safari were using secure versions.

The exploit was credited to one Vupen team member, Sergey Glazunov, who gets the $60,000 price Google and CanSecWest organizers had arranged.

Finding the particular exploit was a milestone for Google, as it represented the first real crack to break Chrome's sandboxing. Google has encouraged white hat hackers to try and break Chrome and help it improve security, but it has also argued that Chrome was inherently safer and touted the lack of attacks as proof its sandboxing worked.

duh

although wider details wouldn't be published until most users of Chrome and other WebKit-using browsers like Safari were using secure versions.

So it's a WebKit issue, not a Chrome issue, per se?

The exploit was credited to one Vupen team member, Sergey Glazunov, who gets the $60,000 price Google and CanSecWest organizers had arranged...
The Chrome exploit breaks a minor tradition of Pwn2Own hacks being targeted against Apple first, such as against the iPhone 4 or desktop Safari.